Article: The scene cuts to Kyoko and Kyubey together as he asks if she's going to fight any witches today. He states that she hasn't purified her soul gem in quite awhile and that she has to get a grief seed soon or else she won't be able to fight anymore. Kyoko states she doesn't need the power anymore. She believes she was a fool to believe in miracles as hers destroyed her family. She states that if her power can't help her protect what's important to her, then what good is to having it anymore. Kyoko thinks about what her dad said to her and wonders if he was right to see magical girls and witches as the same thing. Kyoko then asks Kyubey if she were to stop hunting witches if she would just die like everyone else. Kyubey doesn't answer her, and Kyoko states that she was kidding as he already knows that.
Article: Mami happens upon finding the witch's barrier gone and finds Kyoko down in the snow. She quickly runs to her side and hugs her, telling her it's cold outside and that she's injured. As Mami heals her up, she tells Kyoko that she's so happy to see her as she hadn't see her in awhile, worried about what had happened to her. Kyoko tells Mami she's sorry and adds that she can't fight with her anymore. Mami apologizes and blames herself for not finding Kyoko earlier, and restates that she's just so happy that she's still alive. The chapter ends with Kyoko breaking down into tears, crying that it's all her fault that her family has died.
Article: Episode 4 begins from where the last episode left off with Mami offering ginger tea to warm Kyoko up after being out in the cold. Kyoko notes how Mami has even loaned her some of her clothes and says it must be putting her out. Mami answers that it's not a problem as it's already getting late and that she should stay over at her place for the time being. Mami then asks what she is thinking of doing now, and says that if it's ok, she'd like Kyoko to stay with her until things settle down for her. Kyoko turns her down, as she doesn't want to impose on her that much. Mami understands, but adds that she would like Kyoko to stop trying to do everything by herself, and that she can be her back up in battles too. She suggests that they do things together from now on, and offers to make dinner for tonight. As Mami leaves, Kyoko clutches her soul gem in her hand and (thinking) apologizes to Mami, as she's afraid she can't fight with her anymore after her ordeal.
Article: Mami asks if something has happened to Kyoko, but she ignores her and goes on to state that while Mami may be trying to be a hero and "protect the peace", it's too much of a pain to play along with her hobbies, and that it just doesn't seem right to her anymore. Mami is upset and asks her what is she talking about, as regardless there's a witch or it's familiar attacking people, it's best to save them or they'll die.
Kyoko then snaps at Mami, saying that they can't possibly go saving everyone all the time. Mami is speechless, and Kyoko adds that whether people are possessed by a witch or not, the ones who want to die are going to, and asks Mami why she should have to risk her life saving jerks like that and says to let the familiars have them so they have some more grief seeds in the future. Mami understands that Kyoko is just upset about how she feels about her family, but that she still shouldn't say things like that. Kyoko snaps back saying that what would she understand, as she is a girl whose family died in an accident, which is in no way the same as a girl whose family died because of her. Kyoko states that Mami was right about one thing; that she really should've made the wish for herself instead, as the only one who would be hurt is herself, and that that way, she doesn't push her own selfish ideas of happiness on someone else. She adds on that she got her whole family caught up in her own misery, and that it serves her right as her magic started the whole mess in the first place. Kyoko then accuses Mami that somewhere down inside, she thought something like this was bound to happen, and Mami tearfully says she never thought of that at all. Kyoko states that she has made up her mind, and is not going to anything anymore for other people's happiness, or try to save anyone either. She will never use her magic for that reason, and instead use her magic to make herself happy. Kyoko then asks Mami if they're done being a team, as Mami might hate her now for what she has said. Kyoko turns to leave, but Mami grabs her by the wrist. Kyoko tells her to let go, but Mami cries as she says that she won't and that she doesn't care how tough it is for her right now, but she refuses to let Kyoko live her life like that, as trying too hard to act strong like that will make things tougher for her. Mami also says that she can't leave her alone like this, that she can't just walk away from Kyoko after all that. Kyoko sighs in frustration, and uses her magic to repel Mami away from her, saying that she's leaving even if she has to blast Mami away to do it. Mami is taken aback as Kyoko has transformed into her magical girl form and takes a fighting stance.
Article: Mami asks her if this is truly what she wants and if she really thinks she can stand the loneliness. Kyoko doesn't answer and leaves without a word, leaving Mami alone. Mami cries to herself about her failure again, and asks why it always turns out this way as now she's back to being all alone again. The scene then switches to Kyoko, who is seen alone as well from the top of a building, looking down at her soul gem and thinking to herself that Mami can find a better friend than her.
"And as to the where... well, I don't know, actually. Mami? She... she said that she'd be at the bridge, and you'd know where."
"Oh," Mami says, swallowing. "I... I do know. I'll lead the way."
"So," Kyouko says, breaking the silence. The sneer, fierce and feral and challenging and forced, doesn't move. "You wanted me here so badly?"
Kyouko spreads her arms. "Here I am."
"Something concrete, then," you say, and now you do smile. You've run through jokes and ideas to reassure her, but frankly, you should just keep it simple. "If you agree, I act as the intermediary. With your permission, all we need to do is to explain why it started, and that's... it."
"That simple?" Kyouko says, sneering a bit.
"That simple," you say. "The biggest reason I haven't done it is because bringing it up hurts Mami. I don't want to do that if I don't have anything from your end. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that, and honestly, from there... as long as you don't pick another fight, that's it."
"Yeah, just run your mouth and everything's gonna be wonderful again," Kyouko snaps. But she doesn't seem angry with you. Not exactly.
"Again, huh?" you say, a note of light teasing in your voice. You're forcing it, but you don't want this to be something quite so heavy, or fraught. It is that simple. "In the end, you've just got to suck it up and do what you were always had to do in the end. Sit down and talk. Communicate."
"And if you're wrong?" Kyouko says.
"If I'm wrong, if Mami attacks you, then I end the fight," you say. "Homura and Sayaka, too."
You blink, and look at Kyouko, really look at her. Because beneath that bravado, beneath that prickly shell, is fear. Fear and hope and guilt and could-have-been and regrets, a raw, festering stew of feelings that were never really resolved. Heck, if things had gone differently between them, you might not be Mami's girlfriend.
"Kyouko," Mami whispers, one hand reaching for her, and the other clutching yours.
"Yeah, that's my name." Kyouko folds her arms, slouching against the lamppost. There's a glint in her eye, a challenging tilt to her chin. "Y' girlfriend's been hanging out in Kasamino, you know. Her 'n blue over there."
Still, oddly, Kyouko's jibe seems to steady Mami.
"Sabrina would never do anything like what you're implying," she says sharply.
"Yeah? It's all about her, isn't it?" Kyouko snaps back. You detransform as you join Sayaka and Homura, the flash of light seeming to catch her attention. She jerks her chin at you. "You've found someone who you can believe in."
"You left me." Maybe it's something in the look Mami gives Kyouko, maybe it's the way she whispers it -neither loud nor accusing nor angry, just disappointed- that takes the wind out of Kyouko's sails.
Old pain, old hurt that never truly went away.
"... yeah. I did," Kyouko says. She starts to look away, before her eyes snap back, glare reasserting itself. She doesn't move, either, her arms folded. Knotted tight and closed off, harsh shadows cast over her face and body by the illumination of the street light. "I couldn't stand being around you."
"What, didn't like that?" Kyouko asks, noticing your movement. She glances at you, gaze lingering on Sayaka for a moment. "Whatcha gonna do about it."
"Kyouko," Mami says, her cold, precise diction belying the anger simmering beneath her even tone. "Why are you doing this?"
Kyouko laughs. Loud and coarse and mocking and perhaps you're reading too much into it, but with just a bit of genuine hurt leaking through.
"I'm not good enough for you," Kyouko sneers, and her words burn hot, hot, hot with anger. Anger at Mami, anger at the world, anger at herself. "You know it, I know it. I never was. I could never live up to your ideals, Mami-senpai."
"That's not true," Mami says, her chin lifting. "We fought together, Kyouko. We fought for the same thing."
"Yeah, and then I didn't," Kyouko snaps. "How about that? We can't all be perfect."
"Mistakes are human, Kyouko," Mami says softly. "I never asked you to be perfect."
"'Mistakes'?" Kyouko echoes, her face twisting to anger. "I hurt people. That's all I do."
"You don't have to," Mami says.
"There was once a little girl who killed her family. The end," Kyouko says, singsong and mocking and bitter. She holds both arms out and twirls, then curtsies towards you. "How about that, my dear audience?"
"I think you're being stupid." Sayaka beats you to the punch, scowling and folding her arms. "I've seen how you act with Yuma. I dunno what your problem is, but you're not as bad as you think you are."
"I wonder what lessons your student is learning from you?" Mami murmurs. "I wonder what she thinks of you?"
"She's a kid," Kyouko snarls. "She doesn't know better."
"I think she knows well enough," Mami says. "I wonder if she would agree, if I asked her?" She turns her head slightly, looking past and above Kyouko's head. "I recognise that enchantment she's using."
You track Mami's gaze, past the glow of streetlights and past the gloom of night, to what might be a tiny silhouette perched atop a building in the distance.
"I feel sorry for her," Kyouko says, lips peeling off her teeth. "So what?"
"No matter how much you try to pretend otherwise... Kyouko, you believed in the same ideals I did," Mami says. Her attention returns to Kyouko. "I know you did."
"No. I just said that to make you feel better," Kyouko says. The sneer returns to her face. "It's better this way."
"I don't believe you," Mami says, but you can see her conviction waver a little. She shakes her head, and sighs. "I... Kyouko, I miss you."
"Good for you," Kyouko says, sardonic. "I don't miss your nagging."
Brick crunches under your fingers, jagged edges biting in even as it crumbles to powder under superhuman strength. Kyouko's eyes flick your way for a second, that damnable sneer curling her lips still.
"Still that same troublesome student of mine," Mami says. She opens both hands to Kyouko, the gesture belying the hurt and renewed anger in her eyes. "You're not here because you want to argue with me, Kyouko. Why are you here?"
"I dunno, really," Kyouko says. She half turns away from Mami, shadows cast by her ponytail and bangs shading her face. "Maybe I should leave. You've already got friends."
"Kyouko, I..." Mami falters, reaching out to Kyouko before letting her hand drop, and takes a shaky breath. "You're my friend, too. You're still my friend, and... I'm not going to let to push me away. I..." Mami takes a deeper breath, straightening. "I learned to hope again, Kyouko. I'm not giving up on you."
"I-" Mami swallows, taking another step forward. "Kyouko, I... whatever you've done, it's alright. We can- we can work something out. I-" Mami's voice cracks, and you can see her trying to blink back tears. "I'm sorry, Kyouko. I'm sorry I- I wasn't enough to help, back then. Please- please. I just want my friend back."
Kyouko hunches her shoulders, mutely shaking her head. "There's a place for people like me, Mami. Go home."
OK no pressure... just Redshirt and best cat waiting to see what I propose... hahahah ahahaha (help)
.... OK I can't figure out a coherent vote really.. so ALL my thoughts plus an attempt!
I think the best way to explain my idea is by explaining how I think the broader behavior Kyouko has with pushing people away interacts with her relationship with Mami.
As Kaizuki said Kyouko viewed Mami as benchmark, a role model, one that she ultimately in the end feels like she betrayed along with her own ideals. So, she pushes Mami away because Mami should not be with someone like her. Kyouko pushes everyone away because she can't be happy – she says its because of the nature of the world but I think that may just be a rationalization.
The reason Mami and Kyouko reconciling is so important, I think is that if Mami Tome the role model still wants to be friends with her maybe, just maybe Kyouko will decide that her actions have not forced her to live without friends.
But Kyouko accepting Mami again runs into both Kyouko's personal history with her and with her impulse to push people away unless she can't rationalize it like our agreement with her to train Sayaka. It also runs afoul of Mami's fears about being alone, and losing friends.
If only we had a group on the sidelines that are friends of Kyouko and Mami. To provide Mami that buttress of morale, to remind her she isn't alone while showing to Kyouko that she's not some irredeemable monster, destined to be left alone.
Oh wait….
We're looking at this as trying to help Mami reconcile with Kyouko when really, we need to see it as a group of friends helping two of their friends make amends and move forward together along a new and better path.
Kyouko and Mami reconciling how Kyouko pushed Mami away is something that can only be done between Mami and Kyouko. But those actions were part, and are part of, a larger pattern of behavior that IS something that can and should be refuted by her friends.
In the end Sayaka, Sabrina, Homura and Mami don't hold how Kyouko left Mami against her or hold any sort of judgement on Kyouko over her wish's connection to the death of her family. But you can't just say that to her – she's just going to deny it all or say you are lying.
But if you provide some facts, explain why you are not judging her then she can't just refute you out of hand. She's going to try to provide counter arguments – which at least forces her to think about what's she saying and she has to force her way through any contradictions.
Of course as I write this I realize that the way Kyouko is acting shows her on a knife edge. "There's a place for people like me, Mami. Go home." … she's telling Mami to leave for Mami's sake. She's hunches her shoulders; she mutely shakes her head. She's taken postures that are defensive, meant to make her a smaller target.
Kyouko asked for this meeting, I think, expecting it to go wrong and to give her an excuse to validate her world view. Instead she has Mami refusing to step back from her, asking to be her friend even after she plays the whole "There was once a little girl who killed her family. The end," bit.
She's so close to having friends again, to having Senpai again, but she can't – she can't accept it without marginalizing her own mistakes. Actions and reactions, choices and consequences.
Thinking about it Sayaka is showing a useful tactic. Just drop pointed retorts against what Kyouko is claiming.
Edit: Like I just want to tell Kyouko she's being silly and how none of us are going to judge her, or consider her tainted or something due to what occurred... but I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO MAKE THAT VOTE.
-[X] The place for people like you, Kyouko, is with friends. Deny it all you want but I don't think anyone present would deny being your friend. Even Homura.
--[X] I've seen you with Yuma, I remember how you were ready to gut me like a fish when I showed up with a freshly contracted Yuma, knowing what this life is like. I've watched you train Sayaka. I don't think you are a bad person; I will not judge you on your past, for your actions in the present speak loud enough.
---[X] Apologize to Mami for interrupting but you couldn't let a friend say such things about themselves.
-[X] Let Mami Handle the rest
Right, the more I think about it the more I dislike this vote and this broad plan, both this version and the prior one with telepathy.This is good shit DB, not gonna lie.
So... Okay, here's the plan.
Step one: get Kyouko's backstory on the table. My vote.
Step two: once Kyouko's backstory is on the table, Mami and Sayaka are going to fucking *jump her* with "you're not a bad person" and "this isn't your fault" and we are going to go full goddamn ham right along with them. DB's vote.
Step two point five: we put Kyubey's involvement on the table early on in step two in conjunction with Sayaka. Brina's vote, possibly modified.
[X] Wait. Let Mami handle it.
-[X] If things are seriously not working:
--[X] Out loud, to Mami:
---[X] Mami, if you don't know how to help someone, it's typically not because you aren't "good enough" -- it's almost always because you don't understand their trouble. You usually prefer not to push people to explain themselves to you, instead opting to let other people come and explain their issues to you on their own, but one of the awkward facts about life is that people are generally really bad at deciding to do exactly that. It always seems easier, less risky to just... not tell anybody what's actually wrong. To not volunteer the information you need to understand their problem. It can be hard to tell when, but sometimes, you absolutely have to just push.
I think your plan here is fundamentally flawed, and the failure here is that the the most important things that Mami doesn't know... Kyouko doesn't know either. Kyouko already explained everything that she thought matters. Years ago, and again here.
Also, we directly told Kyoko that we'd do that before bringing Mami and she agreed to meet with the understanding that we would, so if anything us having avoided doing that so far is the breach of trust.I don't think it's breaching trust to step in and say things where they'll provide that realization and reexamination.
"If you agree, I act as the intermediary. With your permission, all we need to do is to explain why it started, and that's... it."
"That simple?" Kyouko says, sneering a bit.
"That simple," you say.
Also, we directly told Kyoko that we'd do that before bringing Mami and she agreed to meet with the understanding that we would, so if anything us having avoided doing that so far is the breach of trust.
Fucking Teenage angst amrite?What Mami knows:
• Kyouko was out of contact with her for longer than usual, which was uncharacteristic of her.
• Mami heard on the news about the Sakura family dying in a suspected murder-suicide that burned their home down.
• Mami immediately hauled ass to Kasamino, where she managed to find a mangled Kyouko slowly dying of hypothermia in the snow after a disastrous witch hunt.
• Mami took Kyouko home and made her tea, fed her food, and lent her clothes. She offered Kyouko a chance to stay with her.
• Mami and Kyouko went hunting, and encountered a familiar. Still reeling from the loss of her magic, just a familiar was almost able to hurt Kyouko if not for Mami's help.
• Mami offered to do all of the hunting for both of them until Kyouko could get back on her feet.
• Kyouko, feeling like a useless burden, instead tried to drive Mami away by bringing up letting familiars live, something she knew was a sore spot for Mami.
• Mami called her out on this being just a lie and urged Kyouko not to lose her ideals.
• Kyouko pulled out her weapon and said she'd drive Mami away by force if she had to.
• They fought, Mami intentionally aimed to miss, so Kyouko pinned her with her spear at Mami's throat.
• Kyouko walked away. They both break down in tears, Kyouko because Mami deserves someone better, Mami because she's been left alone again.
Uh... maybe a bit more tact than that.[X] Out loud, for everyone to hear, without pausing, without inflection:
We promised to explain. This isn't on her.We should probably remind Kyoko first that she promised to explain
Thank you for that Torgamous.Also, we directly told Kyoko that we'd do that before bringing Mami and she agreed to meet with the understanding that we would, so if anything us having avoided doing that so far is the breach of trust.
That's why Sabrina has brain damage.Only this time, it's a result of our collective memory being shot.
Kyuubey:
I just can't imagine Kyuubey's cutesy voice speaking such prose.Kyuubey:
"Kaname Madoka forgot she was as goddess,
"Akemi Homura forgot she was a 'witch'.
"And Sabrina Vee forgot what she was doing.
"Bringing us to this grand pointless endeavor."
As a matter of fact, It's directly lifted and only moderately altered from one of the Rebellion translations.I just can't imagine Kyuubey's cutesy voice speaking such prose.